"In what the Vatican bank described as recognition that it has established serious measures to prevent money laundering, it announced that the Italian government has promised to return €23 million that had been blocked for more than three years.

Even though the Italian government in 2011 said it was releasing the funds, the Italians believed “issues regarding customer due diligence remained unsolved” and so held on to the funds, said a statement on November 18 from the Institute for the Works of Religion, the formal name of what is commonly called the Vatican bank."